The Mythical Trump [POLITICS]

!!! WARNING !!!

Once again. Supporters of President Trump should really really avoid reading this. I don’t say this to bait you. The beginning is completely Trump. The ending, not so much. If you read it, it will only make you angry and want to tell me off. You don’t need to bother with that. I have been told off by experts. Consider me properly told off. You don’t need the aggravation. You’ve troubles enough without my adding to them. No. I’m not being snarky. Peace be with you.

The Mythical Trump [POLITICS]

        There are two main perceptions of President Trump. There is the reality that is Donald Trump and then there is the mythical President Trump that his supporters believe in. These links will provide a refresher course in what might be forgotten.

The Da Vinci of Presidents

        This Donald Trump. < https://nowthisnews.com/videos/politics/donald-trump-is-apparently-the-expert-on-everything-according-to-him > This is a partial list of what he is the best or best being the least at; as in being the least racist, least sexist, least whatever person that has ever been or will be known.

President Trump is a mighty man!        

 < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3zRKwonav8 >

        Really the song says it all. Representatives of his base sing it out loud and strong.

President Trump is a very stable Genius.       

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRgEDSEy2dU >

        There are lots of clips of President Trump saying how smart he is. This one is from Russian Television. Being stable is just icing on the cake since smart people can be a tad cray.

The glorious Leader is philanthropic.

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRulvxjNVik >      

        He’s a philanthropic multi-billionaire that donates his salary to charity. I’ve seen the memes about his charitable work. Memes don’t lie either. According to Vice President Pence he’s given away tens of millions of dollars.

Glorious Leader is super-duper religious.      

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzbzZwMzU38 >

        God couldn’t have said it better. He’s now signing bibles.

The magnificent Leader is the least racist person.        

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRDmWPAtHiA >

        He covers it all in this interview with Don Lemon. He’s the ‘none of the above’ answer in regards to racism, bigotry, being Islamaphobic, homophobic and for good measure he’s very smart.

Humanitarian Trump wants to take care of…       

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGXa2rGnY1Y >

        DACA! Truthfully he didn’t say how he wanted to take care of it. 1^st Amendment. 2^nd Amendment.

The dazzling Leader is the best negotiator!  

The brilliant Leader only appoints the best people!       

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cii8BroxknI >

        You name it he knows them. They’re the best. This is a twofer clip because he’s also the best dealmaker. He has deals coming out of his ears AND has a book.

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOaWhF-QVYw >

The Don Juan Leader loves and respects women.       

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3HUSjZ14u4 >

        No, this isn’t a link to the Hollywood tape. BTW he also cherishes women.

President Trump is a lover of...   

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IW7c4YKK6eI >

        People. Christmas. The people in attendance. This also applies to cities and to states when he’s visiting. I unfortunately have to add a couple of exceptions here. He does not love John McCain or puppies.

The Fearless Leader is the victim.       

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQzXbC7ZqeI >

        It isn’t good for the country to harass the President. He says so. It’s a “witch hunt”!

The amazing wizard Leader is an expert.       

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=07xU4JYPNKI >

        Drone technology, campaign finance, the military, knows more about ISIS than the generals, courts, social media, twitter, facebook, banking law, having the best words, construction (All), money, the economy, trade, safety, the system, and though it isn’t in this clip he has one of the greatest memories of all time. There are other things that aren’t covered in this clip either. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YA631bMT9g8 > He has natural instincts for science, nuclear, better toys than anybody, knows the bible better than anybody, helping the disabled, helping veterans, equality, being conservative, being strong, uranium sales (yes, really), understanding devaluation, getting crowds, building walls (Always a favorite), infrastructure, H1B, H2B, Taxes, debt, he’s smarter than anybody…which kind of covers well…everything. I kinda’ wish I had come to this clip earlier. He alone can fix it. Everything. Trump, “I alone can fix it!”

Here’s 25 minutes of pure Trump.     

< https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP93ibc3MMs >

Take a breather.       

        Seriously. If you’ve watched all the above links you’ve earned it.

        I don’t intend that all of the above is intended to be even close to being a comprehensive list of what comprises the mythical Trump. He’s also a caring, compassionate, truthful, loving, eloquent, articulate human being. He’s Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Mother Teresa all wrapped up into one package. He is the Alpha and the Omega.

        Whew! This is a lot to take in I know. Give yourself a minute or two.

        I’m a little overwhelmed with the information about one of the finest minds in the history of the world. I have to stop here and kind of gather my thoughts. I’m a little emotional.

The reality of President Trump and his Presidency.       

        The problem is…none of the above is true. The man described above does not exist anywhere in the real world. Not possible. The man above is a fictional construct. He is less than the sum of his parts. He is all of them. He is none of them.

        All the above are President Donald Trump’s truthlies. He believes them. All of them. Taken in aggregate they just make him look foolish because anyone thinking that they were all of the above would normally be considered at least foolish and quite a few other things as well. He doesn’t even believe himself when necessary because he has a new truthlie to justify or explain himself.

        It’s hard to know where to begin. He is a consummate showman and con man. His Consiglieri Michael Cohen did not lie in this regard. President Trump is the Don King of Presidents when it comes to promoting himself. He is the music man selling himself. (A classic.)

        He is the kind of man that has to, make that needs to, say these kind of prevarications about himself. His supporters need to believe him. Who wouldn’t aspire to be all that he is. Simply by knowing him they are all that he is.

        I also believe that his supporters know this. Or as Vice President Candidate Pence has said, “Well, that’s Donald Trump.” < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sCxqJFiFLs&t=65s >

        What they do support is his agenda and his actions. He’s the good guy. Whatever he says or does is okay because he IS the good guy.

He’s the Mythical President Trump.

The other Thomas [QUEERS]

            In 1966 I was taking Army basic training at Ft. Leonard wood. It was just a wonderful time. (I laughed. I cried. It became a part of me.) The Drill Sergeants were some of the sweetest guys. (Their gruff mean looks were just cover.) A person couldn’t have asked for better clothes or accommodations (and lived). The food was great! (If it helps any I also like hospital food.) The days were just bliss times ten! (I still have dreams about them.) Barracks life was wonderful. Every day we learned new and delightful things about the world and people. Physical Therapy was provided for those needing it. (As it turned out everyone needed it.) PT was the perfect weight loss program as well. The trainers provided personal attention along with positive reinforcement.  It was a reward-based system.

            There were some difficulties that we had to work out on our own.

            A couple of weeks in my mother posed a problem for me. The First Sergeant called me out in morning formation. “Private Thomas step forward!” There were several other Thomases. He whittled it down to just me with some thoughtful questions. As it turned out my mother had called the First Sergeant. Seems that she told him that I hadn’t written or called and she was concerned. The First Sergeant told me that I should call my “mama” when we finished training for the day and before eating. Then he had me step back in formation.

            That was one brutal (I’m going to use a grawlix here) #&*!% day. BRUTAL. At the end of the day I was still able to get to the phone. I did call home and ask mom why in God’s name she would call my First Sergeant. Turns out the Company Commander wasn’t in. Sweet Jesus, that day could have been much worse.

            It probably bears mentioning here that mom had a history of calling the authorities on or about us. Me: “Mom you really shouldn’t call the police on me. You don’t know what I might be doing!” Mom: “You better not be doing anything illegal!” Me: “But you see the police think that I must be up to something because you called.” Mom: “An even better reason then not to be doing anything bad.” When the police actually show up at the house. Sheriff: “Do you have a son?” Dad:  “I’ve got 3 of them. Which one do you want?” Me: Walking up the street and seeing all the squad cars in front of the house, turning around and heading the other way pretending that I lived somewhere else.

            But the call-out in morning formation exacerbated another problem that I had been dealing that had almost gotten me into some fights. There was another Thomas in my platoon with the same first and last name. Hence our bunks were close together. Our middle initials were different. Compounding the problem is we both wore glasses, were about the same size and dressed exactly the same every day. Green. What are the odds?

            The problem was the other Thomas was effeminate. He was effeminate in everything he did, walking, running, eating, etc. Of course to guys this meant that he was a queer. They were merciless to him. There were times that I would get caught with their teasing. I would shut them down with, “Hey! It’s the other Thomas!”

            One day I had been sent back to the barracks for something. I don’t even remember for what but since I had a little time I went to where my foot locker was. The other Thomas’ bunk was not far from mine. He was sitting there hugging himself. Kind of rocking back and forth. His face was tight and pale. He was grimacing. He had gone to sick call that morning. So, I stopped to talk with him and see how he was doing.

            Looking down I realized that he was barefoot and his toes were wrapped in bloody gauze. (He had been limping prior to that day.) I asked him what in the world had happened. He proceeded to tell me. Both of his big toes had bad ingrown toenails. They cut them out. Not at the hospital, at the medic’s office. No anesthetic. Cut and rip. They shoved some kind of heavy duty doctor snips underneath his nails and cut. He showed them to me. I could have thrown up. He said that he passed out. No kidding. They wrapped him up and sent him back to the barracks with some APCs. (Aspirin.)

            Having been to the same aid office I knew what he had run up against. Both of my legs had swollen up from the hips down. They thought that it was funny. The medic wrote some snarky stuff in my permanent record, gave some ace bandages to wrap my legs with and sent me back.

            Oh my god! I sat down with him. I realized that this guy had some sand. He told me his story. He knew why guys made fun of him. Turns out that his dad had died while he was an infant. His mom never remarried. He had 4 older sisters. He just had picked up their mannerisms. He was working on changing his body language, but it was hard.

            The other Thomas was in a lot of pain during training the next few weeks of basic but he stuck it out. I spread his story around and he got some cred for his toughness. Guys backed off him for the most part. There were some that never did. That’s the way it was and is for some people. I didn’t know whether he was queer or not. It didn’t matter to me even then one way or the other. I do to this day regret saying, “Hey! It’s the other Thomas!”

            I did receive some payback when I was stationed in Korea and was the barracks sergeant even though I was technically a Specialist 5^th Class (SP5). I became “the other Thomas.”

            When I was in Korea I didn’t cheat on my wife. The majority of the married men that I served with did. I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I just didn’t do it. Guys tend to notice stuff like that. Especially since I didn’t bother going out into the village and had never been seen at any of the local…houses. When I went to the Enlisted Men’s club located on base I didn’t bother the…entertainers and after word got around that I wasn’t interested they didn’t bother me. They were good people.

            Quite a few of the married guys took my celibacy personally. At times they would go out and get drunk, return from a…date and want to fight me while providing me the appropriate logic for their actions. I would guide them to their bunk and let them sleep it off. They were usually remorseful in the morning. Alcohol made them say things you know. It bears mentioning that there were some single guys that I knew that also didn’t…date.

            One married guy in my section decided that I must actually be gay to explain my not using the business women. So he started spreading that defense around for his actions. He aggravated me. He got under my skin and he knew it. Let’s call him Mr. Pious.

            There were quite a few men in the barracks one day sitting around and shooting the breeze. Mr. Pious was sitting on a foot locker in the middle being very entertaining. So I walked into the middle, bent down, grabbed his face in my hands and gave him a great big kiss right on the lips. It was an eyes wide open kiss. No tongue. I wasn’t happy. After I stood up I stayed there for a minute to see if he was going to do anything. He didn’t. That ended the rumors for some odd reason. Perhaps they didn’t want Sergeant Thomas kissing on them. IDK.

            I often think that people respond in fear, fear that they might be something that they believe they are, aren’t or don’t understand. Fear of those that are different. They can’t be wrong since they’re justified in what they’re doing so the other, whatever that other is, must be wrong.

Fear the book [REVIEW]

        * President Trump should be a little more cautious about calling the book “Fear” a “total fraud” because Woodward vindicates the President in some instances as well as puts him in a favorable light in others. Twitter President Trump is the real Trump. That’s what makes the dialogue and book so believable. People in the President’s circle are as we have seen them in real life. Woodward does an excellent job of presenting their narrative. The President’s own book “Trump, the Art of the Deal” also serves to validate the portrayal in Woodard’s book.

        *When I first started reading “Fear,Trump in the White House” I thought oh boy this is going to be a slog of a read. While I don’t consider it a “page turner” it is a good read. I could put it down, come back to it and become immediately engrossed. There’s drama in the writing but it’s provided by those who Woodward is quoting that were there at the time. If you have watched President Trump talk, read his tweets or watched video of his rallies, you should find that what you are reading is an echo of that. Woodward does an excellent job of filling us in as about the reality of Trump’s Presidency.

        *Bob Woodward starts off providing a behind the scenes look at how the Donald Trump campaign won the election. If Trump supporters would read this with an open mind I think that they might acknowledge that Woodward presents how Trump won in a favorable light. Steve Bannon was almost singular in his unwavering belief that Trump would win. Woodward does a good job of presenting the gritty side of a campaign. The side where people talk like real people and make those not so pretty decisions and have coarse conversations.

        *I’m going to quote a line from the back of the book that for me kind of sums up an oft-repeated theme throughout the book. “I wish I could persuade you,” Dowd said. “Don’t testify. It’s either that or an orange jump suit. If it’s decision time, you’re going to go forward, I can’t be with you.” Dowd is the President’s friend and was his lawyer up until the point that he resigned.

        *Woodward provides a LOT of sources. Pages 362 to 420 are source notes.

        *I want to note that I am curious about all of the half inch spaces between paragraphs that are scattered throughout the book. I’m not going to bother counting them all but I’m going to guess that they add up to a number of pages.

        *In closing I think that if you enjoy reading about history in the making you’ll find this book useful.